Broken
by Mononoke-hime x sukai kurora
Summary: After Itachi releases Edo Tensei, how does Sasuke feel about his hightened resolve to destroy Konohagakure? How does he remember the brother he loved? Tag to manga chapter 589.


_Broken_

Sasuke remembered his brother's back. He remembered his voice as he called out to him, saying the last goodbye. He remembered his brother releasing Edo Tensei to free the lost ghosts of the shinobi. Itachi was one of them. Sasuke remembered following his brother in the forest after he escaped from his imprisonment. Tobi had wanted to keep him out of the Fourth Shinobi World War. He didn't know why. Sasuke had supposed that Tobi wanted him to be unharmed for his plans. Now, however, he felt that Tobi's reasons were clear: he didn't want Sasuke to meet his undead brother and change sides to the Allied Shinobi Forces. Sasuke still remembered saying these words to Tobi when he and his former team Taka, were allied with Akatsuki. _"Saying I should follow Itachi's footsteps is nothing but pretty words. It's nonsense for those who don't know hatred. If anyone wants to deny my way of living, I'll kill everyone they ever cared about! Maybe then they'll understand a little of my hatred." _

Sasuke remembered his lingering sadness as he watched his brother disappear with the _kinjutsu_. Although he denied it, Sasuke still harbored grief inside him because of his brother's death. It was Sasuke who had battled him, who had forced him to become a corpse, but it was Konohagakure who had driven him through that pain, that agony, and loneliness. Sasuke still felt bitterness surging through him whenever he thought of his former village. The village that Itachi had loved and protected with every breath he took had betrayed him. They had_ used_ him. Something stirred within the teenage shinobi though. Kakashi had told him that shinobi were ultimately weapons. It had seemed such a long time ago. He was only twelve years old at the time, ignorant of his past and of what his future would be. Sasuke had hoped that had hoped that he would become a Konohagakure shinobi who would make his parents, especially his father, proud. Sasuke would avenge his clan by killing his brother. He recalled his father's words to him to his seven year old self as if his father was alive and breathing. Sasuke remembered of how proud he was then. Of how proud he was to be an Uchiha, and of how proud he was to be Uchiha Fugaku's son. He had wanted to make his father proud every day since the Uchiha Clan Massacre. Sasuke would never know that he would experience a blood-soaked and vengeful future.

Itachi had told him that Naruto was now the person who was going to influence him. Itachi was no longer part of this world. Sasuke had disagreed. _"You don't have any attachments to this world? You were the one who made me into what I am now!" _However, Itachi was dead. Their parents and the Uchiha Clan were dead. Sasuke was the sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan. However, Sasuke would always remember the smiling faces, the laughter, the pain, the happiness and the blood, because they had made him what he was today. He remembered telling Gaara, now the Yondaime Kazekage, that he was no longer reachable. _"I have long since closed my eyes... My only goal is in the darkness."_ Gaara had been like him, once. They had both shared the pain of losing those precious to them, of being deceived, and of being unloved. Naruto had been vengeful as well, supposedly. They don't understand, Sasuke thought, staring at Kabuto's incapacitated body. They don't know what it is like to know that your life has been an entire lie. He clenched his fists until he felt a warm trickle of blood flow onto the floor. _"People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define "reality". But what does it mean to be "correct" or "true"? Merely vague concepts ... their "reality" may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?" _Itachi had said this to him in their battle. Back then, Sasuke hadn't understood what Itachi had meant. He hadn't understood Itachi's sacrifice for him. Now, however, he understood. Itachi had betrayed his village, his Clan, and his morals for the sake for Konohagakure. Itachi had become someone else to commit the unspeakable deed. He had lied to himself, and had lied to others. Sasuke's older brother had sacrificed himself for the whole village. Konohagakure was silent, enjoying the peace and stability that they believed deserved. No of them, not even the Godaime Hokage, knew of Itachi's true intensions in the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

Sasuke had disbelieved Tobi at first when he told him the truth about his brother. He had convinced himself that his brother was what he had appeared to be: a cold-blood murderer who did not love anyone. Sasuke wondered if he simply wanted to believe the web of lies rather than face the horrible truth. He remembered shedding tears at truth. "_Accepting dishonor in payment for honor... and hatred in payment for love, even then Itachi died smiling."_ Sasuke couldn't accept that. He couldn't accept that his brother had died for nothing. And so Sasuke would do what he had strived to do what his beloved brother couldn't. He would destroy Konohagakure. He would destroy their hearts and hopes and dreams of everyone that lived there…just as they did to him and his brother.

_"I'm not in an illusion anymore! I can see through your genjustu! Because these are your eyes!"_

_ "You were the one who changed everything about me! I should have died! You were supposed to kill me and my parents together! And yet…why was I the only one? Why was I the only one to survive?" _

"_I guess anything I say now would be pointless… When I saw you… I decided to follow you here to confirm whether or not what Danzou and Tobi told me was true or not. But that wasn't the only reason… When I'm with you I remember the way it used to be. I remember time spent with the brother that I looked up to… that I loved. That's why… The closer I get to you… The more I'm able to recall what those days felt like… And the more I'm able to understand you._"

"_The more I'm able to hate Konoha for the suffering they put you through. In fact, it's becoming even stronger than before. I do understand what you want me to do. It's probably because you're my older brother that you feel the need to put me on the right path. But it's probably because I'm your younger brother that I'll never stop, no matter what you say. As you'll always exist to protect the village… so I will to destroy it. Goodbye.__"_

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't doing this for his brother, Itachi. He was doing this for himself, no more and no less.


End file.
